A good overview of the Beguines, who were women who heeded a spiritual calling but did not become nuns from roughly the 12th to 18th centuries in Europe. Beguines lived in communities ("Cities of Ladies"), supported themselves through crafts such as lace-making and professions such as teaching. They took no vows, but lived lives of simplicity and regular spiritual practices such as study of scripture, helping the poor, prayer, and fasting.

Swan's book is a bit dry and could benefit from some maps and photographs of beguinages, but it is well researched and clearly written. Scholars would like a few more citations throughout, but there is a good selection of sources for the reader's further inquiry. This book is worth having if for nothing more than the engaging portrait of a noble woman (not a Beguine, but from that era) on the cover. Roger van der Weyden's Portrait of a Woman in a White Headdress is hypnotic, intriguing, and more captivating even than the Mona Lisa. Look into those eyes and heed that smile if you would know women's experience of religion and life itself in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The Wisdom of the Beguines: The Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women's Movement by Laura Swan. BlueBridge, Katonah, New York. 2014

It was too warm to play outside today, so I went to church, something I rarely do in the summer. I thought there would be about five or six other people there, but when I opened the door, I fell back in surprise: almost every seat was taken. Then I noticed the babies.

My worst church-going nightmare is arriving for a service and finding out there is a baptism. The only thing worse is finding out that there is a guest appearance by a brass quintet. Grabbing one of the last available seats, I quickly looked at the program for signs of baptism. Yes, there was a baptism. In fact, there were FIVE! My heart sank, but I was stuck now: there was no escape!

Actually, the service moved along rather briskly, and there was enough air conditioning to make it tolerable. The babies were cute, of course, and our rector has a sincere love of little ones, you can tell by the way he tenderly cuddles them and gives them a kiss at the end. But FIVE? Any way, the sacrament also provided a lesson in the new names of today’s children:

Emma, April, Allegra, Francesca, and Lorenzo. The rector and parents carried the new baptisees down the aisle for all to admire, and actually, my curmudgeonly self melted away in their beguiling presence.

Add to this, the last hymn before dismissal was the Hymn to Joy based on the theme from Beethoven’s Ninth. I believe the Episcopalians are the only denomination that includes the syncopation at the return to the A section (it sounds awfully humdrum without it). The congregation sang robustly, and the choir director pulled out all the stops with the newly restored organ. All in all, I suppose there are worse ways to spend a warm Sunday morning.